Since the revival of spiritual energy began, humanity had managed to carve out a foothold in a world teeming with mutant beasts.
However, limited population numbers and a lack of overwhelming combat power meant that most human activities remained concentrated around cities.
As a result, except for a few cities blessed with exceptionally favorable geographical conditions, most urban centers suffered from an uneven distribution of resources.
Coastal City was a good example.
As a coastal city, it enjoyed a pleasant climate and abundant water and biological resources.
Its dense network of rivers also gave it certain advantages in agricultural production.
These benefits were among the main reasons it had developed so rapidly in less than thirty years since its founding.
Its shortcomings, however, were equally obvious.
The city was severely lacking in fossil fuels, especially coal, one of the most basic and essential energy resources.
Heating was a secondary concern.
Apart from occasional cold snaps, winters in coastal regions were generally quite mild.
The city’s greatest weakness was its inability to generate enough electricity.
More specifically, it lacked sufficient fuel for power generation.
The revival of spiritual energy had also disrupted the technological development of human civilization.
As a result, humanity had lost the ability to manufacture what people in Jiang Ming’s previous world had called nuclear weapons.
At least, throughout his entire life in this world, Jiang Ming had never heard anyone discuss anything related to them.
Consequently, the power-generation technologies derived from nuclear technology had also disappeared into the pages of history.
Although humanity had launched one technological revolution after another after finally securing its foothold in the world, lost technologies were hardly easy to recover.
For this reason, thermal power generation remained the most reliable source of electricity for most human cities.
That wasn’t to say nobody had considered alternatives.
Solar, hydroelectric, and wind power had all been explored as possible replacements for thermal power.
Unfortunately, none of these options was particularly suitable for Coastal City.
First, most of the rivers around the city lacked sufficient elevation differences, making hydroelectric power generation impractical.
That option was quickly ruled out.
Then there were solar and wind power.
Coastal City enjoyed a mild climate throughout the year and experienced relatively few extreme weather events.
Even with these technologies in place, it would be difficult for the city to rely on them completely, unlike some cities in the northwestern regions. You are reading on novelping.com, the official source.
The shortage of electricity had therefore become the greatest obstacle preventing Coastal City from developing into a major city.
“Solar power generation? And you expect that little thing to do it?”
Xue Wenhui pointed skeptically at Sunkern, which was glowing beside the balcony.
Jiang Ming didn’t bother arguing.
Seeing was believing.
He simply picked up Sunkern’s flowerpot and led Xue Wenhui to the rooftop of Zhengming Company’s building, where several rows of solar panels had been installed.
Thanks to the widespread adoption of auxiliary power-generation technologies, nearly every household in Coastal City had some form of small-scale wind or solar power equipment.
Zhengming Company was no exception.
The equipment wasn’t extensive, but it still helped reduce the company’s electricity bills.
“Uncle Xue, keep your eyes open.”
Jiang Ming placed Sunkern in front of one of the solar panels.
Over the next ten minutes, more and more sunlight began converging on Sunkern.
Before long, the adjacent solar panel was operating at full capacity.
Several nearby panels also experienced noticeable increases in output.
Thanks to the momentum of the First Technological Boom in equipment development, humanity had achieved enormous breakthroughs in auxiliary power-generation systems, far surpassing the technology Jiang Ming had known in his previous life.
Otherwise, with most cities lacking nuclear power and struggling to generate sufficient electricity through thermal power, even maintaining a normal standard of living would have been difficult, let alone developing further.
Watching the solar panel beside Sunkern reach full output, Xue Wenhui was momentarily stunned.
The panels installed at Zhengming Company were ordinary consumer-grade models, each with a maximum output of just 500 watts.
Even under the best sunlight conditions, they usually managed only a little over half their rated capacity.
Yet a tiny Sunkern had somehow managed to push one of them to its maximum output.
Seeing Xue Wenhui’s astonished expression, Jiang Ming couldn’t resist showing off a little.
“Uncle Xue, Sunkern is still just a baby. Once it grows up and becomes stronger, I reckon a single one of them might be able to bring all a dozen or so of our solar panels up to full capacity.”
Xue Wenhui’s expression changed several times before he finally sighed.
“Even if that’s true, how much electricity can a single Sunkern generate? Even if all our panels operate at full capacity, the electricity they produce in an entire day isn’t enough to meet our own needs.”
“Then we’ll just create more of them!” Jiang Ming replied unconcernedly.
“Give me enough materials, and I can produce as many Sunkern as we need!”
At those words, Xue Wenhui’s expression changed dramatically.
“Xiao Ming, I know you’ve achieved something remarkable, but Zhengming Company has limited resources. If we invest everything we have in these genetic organisms, our other businesses will inevitably suffer. We’ll have a hard time explaining that to the City Guard.”
Since he hadn’t witnessed the actual process of creating Sunkern, Xue Wenhui could only estimate its production cost based on what he knew about the market value of existing genetic organisms.
Unfortunately, his estimate was completely wrong.
That wasn’t his fault.
He had never worked directly in the field and didn’t realize that the greatest expense in developing a genetic organism usually came at the very first stage: developing its genetic code.
With the System’s assistance, Jiang Ming had bypassed that most expensive step entirely.
Furthermore, since Sunkern was a plant-based Pokémon, the materials required to create one were relatively inexpensive.
Seeing that Xue Wenhui was still worried, Jiang Ming didn’t waste any more time explaining things verbally.
Instead, he took him into the laboratory and demonstrated the entire Sunkern creation process firsthand.
“See? That’s pretty much all there is to it.”
Jiang Ming pointed toward several cultivation chambers containing Pokémon eggs that had only begun to take shape.
“Once the eggs have fully developed in a few days, they’ll be transferred to the hatching chamber. After roughly [missing duration], they’ll be ready to hatch.”
“Th-this is all it takes?” Xue Wenhui felt as though his entire understanding of the world had been turned upside down.
Jiang Ming then explained the complete process of creating a genetic organism, from beginning to end.
Finally, he concluded, “Uncle Xue, I’ve already solved the most difficult part. The costs involved in everything that comes afterward are well within our means.”
Xue Wenhui was overjoyed.
He no longer had any reason to stop Jiang Ming from pursuing his plans—and, naturally, he had no intention of doing so.
To be honest, as a partner in Zhengming Company, Xue Wenhui had always wanted to see the business grow.
It was just that expanding a company was much easier said than done.
In practice, it involved countless complicated issues, and Xue Wenhui had never dared to take such risks.
He was getting older, and his only real wish was to raise Jiang Ming into a capable successor.
Once the young man had matured, with Jiang Zheng looking after the family, the two brothers could pursue whatever ambitions they wanted.
Afterward, the two discussed the publicity arrangements for Sunkern in greater detail.
In the end, they agreed to hold a press conference three days later.
As for Sunkern’s potential in power generation, Xue Wenhui said that once the press conference was over, he would visit Coastal City’s Energy Bureau and see whether he could pitch the idea to them.
Thanks to Jiang Zheng, Xue Wenhui had built up a few useful connections across the city’s government departments.
With official endorsement, Sunkern’s unusual abilities would have a much easier time gaining public acceptance.